So Young at Heart

I decided to shrug what Vicky said off, setting it aside in my head as her just being a troublemaker. I mean, the thought of me liking my best friend in just plain disturbing. And him liking me is even weirder to think about.

“What should we do?” I heard Gabe ask. I shrugged.
“Head back home?” I asked. He nodded.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

“Vicky drove…” I said.

“Shit. Ryland and I walked, since he doesn’t live far away. You know what this means?” I groaned, hitting my palm against my forehead.

“I am not walking five miles in the middle of June, Gabanti.” He sighed.

“Do you have any money?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Well, doesn’t look like we have any other options. C’mon, let’s go before we change our minds and die of starvation in a parking lot,” Gabe said as he started walking. I sighed, following after him.

I officially hate walking.

~ ~ ~

“Finally!” I groaned, stepping into Gabe’s house. I could have gone to my house, but it’s too dark and lonely. “Must. Have. Lemonade.”

“Good idea,” said Gabe, kicking off his shoes. “I’m going to go change into something less sweaty. You want to borrow some clothes?”

“Yeah. I’m not going back to my house if it means going outside,” I said. He laughed. “You get clothes, I get lemonade.” He nodded and headed up the stairs, as I headed into the kitchen.

As I was putting the lemonade back in the fridge, Gabe came down the stairs and into the kitchen, now dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and an old tattered shirt.

“What do I have the pleasure of wearing?” I asked him. With a grin, he held up an old wifebeater and a pair of red plaid boxers. “Hey! That’s my wifebeater! And why do I have to wear boxers?”

“Well, they’re stretchy and all elastic-y, so they’ll actually fit your waist,” he said, pulling at the waistband as if to prove a point. “And they double as shorts!” I rolled my eyes, grabbing the clothes and walking to the bathroom to change. “You might want to keep your underwear on underneath, you know,” he called.

“I think that goes unsaid,” I called back, shutting the bathroom door. When I was dressed, I came out of the bathroom to see Gabe sprawled on the couch, holding an empty glass.

“More lemonade,” he said, holding the glass out to me.

“No, you lazy ass. Get it yourself.” I smiled, sitting down on his legs. I sipped at my own lemonade happily as he glared at me.

“Bitch.” I smirked.

“Oh, you love me,” I shot back. For some reason, I regretted saying it instantly. He didn’t notice my sudden uncomfortable behavior, because he simply stuck his tongue out at me.

“Look! Something moving off in the distance!” Gabe yelped, pointing behind me. I looked back rapidly, frowning when I didn’t see anything. By the time I had turned back, most of my lemonade had been poured into Gabe’s mouth.

“You bastard,” I said, grabbing my glass from him and standing up to get more lemonade.

“Get me some!” he squealed, holding out his own glass for me to take.

“Such a baby,” I muttered. “What are you going to do when I’m not around to be your maid twenty four hours a day anymore?”

“That isn’t ever going to happen. Don’t worry Riley. You’ll always be my maid!” I groaned, grabbing his glass and heading back into the kitchen. “When you’re in there, can you grab me some oreos?” he called.

“No!” I shouted. “Get ‘em yourself! Lazy ass…” I muttered, filling the two glasses up with lemonade. I walked back into the living room to hand Gabe his glass.

“So when are you guys going to start up this whole band thing?” I asked him. He sipped at his lemonade, putting it onto the coffee table before responding.

“I don’t know. We were considering having a band practice tomorrow. Just to figure things out,” he explained, reaching again for his lemonade.

“That’s cool. Whos house would be the staging place?”

Gabe took another long, drawn out sip before speaking again. “Probably Nate’s. He actually owns a drum kit, which is a start. And I have a microphone and a small amp to hook it up to, and Ryland and Alex are bringing over some amplifiers for themselves. It’ll all work out.” I nodded. Suddenly, a thought came to me.

“Wait...What is Victoria going to play?” He smiled.

“Keytar.” I looked in confusion. What the hell is a keytar?

My expression must have been pretty obvious, because he dove into an explanation. “You know...It looks like a guitar, but it has a keyboard? Keytar?” Seeing my still confused face, he sighed in defeat. “I guess you don’t know, then.”

“I guess I don’t,” I replied.

“It’s like a portable version of- Well, you know, like-” he paused. “Okay, you don’t know. How about you come to practice and see it for yourself.” I nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, what’s on TV?” he asked, scrambling for the remote. I sighed, pointing to the crevice in between the cushions, where the remote was snugly resting. He looked at me confused for a moment, before spotting the remote. He grinned triumphantly, lifting it up and dramatically pressing the large red “power” button, making the screen flicker to life. “Spongebob!” he yelled in glee. I rolled my eyes. This guy won’t ever grow up.